[ si ] 



is the most cheap, and the most efficacious manure that the husband- 

 man on these hills can have recourse to. 



Burn baiting, that is, cutting off the turf, drying it, piling it in 

 heaps, and afterwards burning it to ashes, has been tried, but no 

 sensible good effect, cither immediate, or distant, having been expe- 

 rienced, the practice is relinquished ; and I rather think this pro- 

 cess is best calculated for cold, rushy, and heathy grounds, of little 

 or no value. 



The effect of burn baiting, even on lands best adapted to this 

 process, does not last more than three or four years, and if followed 

 up with successive corn crops, the strength of the land is so ex- 

 hausted by the forced fertility, that a rest of eight or ten years is 

 necessary to prepare for its repetition. If burn baiting be practised, 

 it should be for turnips, after which only one crop of barley or oats 

 should be taken, and artificial grasses sown therewith. If this ro- 

 tation of crops be adopted, I see no reason why lands to which the 

 manure is congenial, should be nuholly denied the advantages of the 

 practice. 



A great deal in these instances depends upon the skill and judg- 

 ment of the farmer. If he be wantonly debarred from the use of a 

 valuable manure, he is injured ; and if on the other hand, he uses 

 it without discretion, his landlord suffers, and the most indefati- 

 gable industry will not save himself ultimately from loss, and per- 

 haps ruin. 



Of all the crops to which the land of this district is applied, 

 there is none so useful as the potatoe. Not many years since this 

 root was confined to the gardens, but lately it has been introduced 

 into the field with great success ; it is hardy enough to bear the 

 exposure, and requires no extraordinary care or management in the 

 cultivation. 



The best manure is rotten dung, or the fold of sheep, and as 

 there is no great hazard of success, this root is very generally culti- 

 vated, and is considered as the staple article of food in a poor man's 

 family. 



It is no uncommon thing for a family consisting of father, mo- 

 ther, and five or six children, to consume twenty sacks per year, 

 of 240 lb. weight each sack, or 20 lb. a head per week, allowing 

 twelve weeks cessation from this species of food ; indeed the chil- 



4 dren 



